any suggestions for breeding d39?

[anewbie]

I have a group of d39 (pictures shown here:

D39

In theory I picked up 6 young D39 and put them in a 29: My wild inaccurate guess is these two are females this picture is for @Mazan who will understand it: I don't have any good pictures of the other 3 but will work on them - i think they are likely too young to sex at this point. Also...

apistogramma.com

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I believe at this point they are old enough to breed but have never seen any desire for breeding - my believe is i have 2 solid large males, 2 likely females and 1 maybe female. The aquarium is a 65 48x16. As a group they never show much aggression at all though one of the males keeps his fins up esp at feeding time which suggest there might be something going on between the two males when i'm not around.

The question is for anyone who have bred these fishes is there any thing specific that might encourage them to breed? As for age - they were 3 to 6 months oild when purchased and i've had them for 15 months - i consider them still young but should be mature by now.

I did add a coconut cave with a tiny entrance just in case they were having problem finding a suitable cave and didn't want to dig one under the driftwood like some species.

 

[illumnae]

I have had a pair for over 6 months and they're the shyest apistos in my rack. Hardly ever see them out except at feeding time and no spawning action that I am able to discern

 

[anewbie]

I have had a pair for over 6 months and they're the shyest apistos in my rack. Hardly ever see them out except at feeding time and no spawning action that I am able to discern

Mine are extremely out going showing no signs of shyness.

 

[KenL]

I have kept them, but is trying to just have a male and a female alone in a tank worth trying?

Once you’ve done that try the old favourites like a large water change with cooler water after conditioning them with good food.

 

[anewbie]

I have kept them, but is trying to just have a male and a female alone in a tank worth trying?

Once you’ve done that try the old favourites like a large water change with cooler water after conditioning them with good food.

Hum. I would have to setup another 10 but i could if nothing else comes up - i am feed them a lot of frozen brine shrimp - I have a floor 20 long that is empty since i hate floor tanks but i could put water in it i guess - just a pain to deal with. I guess if there are no other suggestions i might try that next month. They are a lovely species and i would really like to have lots of little ones to disperse. Also if i can breed them i think i'll put them in the 700 i'm going to setup in 2 years and go for a large colony. But so far they just swim around a lot - never hiding but never doing much else - they don't even seem to talk to each other. At least my little nijjensi like to spend the day talking.

 

[Mike Wise]

I never had much luck with group spawning, although I rarely had the chance since I use only smaller tanks <55 gallons. Low tanks that will show shadows cast on them is also a poor idea.

 

[anewbie]

Hum. I wonder. Oh well i'll have to think about this. Throwing a 10 or maybe a 15 on the counter somewhere might be possible short term if that is large enough - problem is they don't even sell 15s any longer.

 

[Mazan]

Mine are extremely out going showing no signs of shyness.

They should definitely be mature (I suppose, though I have never kept them). I presume you have tired the usual - plenty of live food and a large cooler water change? I had the same with Lladislao, they never bred. Neither did my dwarf pikes despite trying everything I could think of (only had one pair of them though).

 

[anewbie]

Ok - i purchased a 15 - i'll setup it up with minimal scape and test it with the ladisalo first (i know a pair formed and maybe they will breed in isolation); so i guess 2 or 3 weeks till i move them and then 2 months of seeing what happens - then the d39 after that or if it turns out to be a pain i'll tear it down and put it in the closet. I really wished i lived some place with decent petshops. I live in a city with nearly 1 million people and not a single decent aquatic store so i had to mail order it.

 

[Mazan]

Ok - i purchased a 15 - i'll setup it up with minimal scape and test it with the ladisalo first (i know a pair formed and maybe they will breed in isolation); so i guess 2 or 3 weeks till i move them and then 2 months of seeing what happens - then the d39 after that or if it turns out to be a pain i'll tear it down and put it in the closet. I really wished i lived some place with decent petshops. I live in a city with nearly 1 million people and not a single decent aquatic store so i had to mail order it.

Good luck!

 

[anewbie]

So i moved the a. ladisalo to the 15 as mentioned above because they were a *lot* older but today i noticed one of the d39 females has almost certainly spawned. The aquarium is a 65 with an assortment of pencil fishes a few otto 5 d39 (2 m 2 f 1 ?? - yea after 1.5 year i still can't tell if the last one if m or f) and 2 l. dors (wc).
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95% of the time the fishes hang out on the right side leaving the left side mostly empty (who knows why) so she picked a nice spot on the left side to spawn - this shows approx 40% of the left side:

(the pencil are over there because i was trying to take a picture and ME == FOOD)

I failed to get a good angle but the nest is somewhere around here:

I'll try again later - maybe after i wipe the glass - kind of a pia to hold the flash light in one hand and camera in the other but she is way way back there somewhere - she came grab some food and immediately went back. I have special ++ for this species so i'm really hopeful but i shoudl temper it a bit and see if anything hatches much less survive.

 

[Mike Wise]

My suggestion? Leave her alone and don't disturb the tank. I guess you have to decide which is more important to you, potential fry or decent photos.